Oddly Enough

ROME (Reuters) - A proposal to levy a tax on cats and dogs that stunned Italy on Friday turned out to be all bark and no bite after a wave of popular anger saw it withdrawn on the same day it was made public.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The mysterious cloak and dagger world of international espionage and its real-life heros and villains are exposed in a new exhibition, the first to be sanctioned by U.S. intelligence agencies.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's ruling ANC threatened to take legal action against a Johannesburg gallery for displaying art which lampoons President Jacob Zuma and accuses the party of corruption.

KIEV (Reuters) - A psychic pig is set to take over where Paul the Octopus left off at the 2010 World Cup by predicting the results of matches at the European championships in Ukraine and Poland.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who was robbed in February at his Caribbean vacation home by a man armed with a machete, recently was the victim of a burglary at his residence in Washington, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's federal science museum has removed an animated video showing youth masturbating from an upcoming sex exhibit following a public outcry, a museum spokesman said.

TOKYO (Reuters) - After Penguin Number 337 made a daring bid for freedom from a Tokyo aquarium and vanished into the waters of Tokyo Bay two months ago, many feared the worst for the adventurous feathered fugitive.

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A man who tried to smuggle heroin into the United States concealed in his rectum was caught by U.S. officials - with the help of a drug-sniffer dog named Malone - as he walked across the border from Mexico.

PARIS (Reuters) - Topless dancers at the renowned Crazy Horse night club in Paris have gone on strike, saying they are not being paid enough to take the shirts off their backs.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Smelling excrement may not be everyone's idea of fun, but for those who like to push the boundaries, Australia's most controversial new museum may be just what they are looking for.